Sunday, June 17, 2007

Interesting story at MacLeans.ca, made even more interesting by the follow-up comment posted by Tom Flanagan, a senior advisor to PM Deceivin’ Steven. Harper’s Karl Rove, if you will.

The article concerns the death of a Canadian woman of Pakistani descent under mysterious circumstances. Forcible confinement has been alleged, and a Pakistani cabinet minister has been charged with her murder.

The death of a Canadian women under mysterious circumstances abroad, a high ranking government official alleged to be involved. Surely something Foreign Affairs could at least look into. Back in Canada her husband seems to think so, but instead there seems to have been silence.

And how does senior Conservative advisor Flanagan respond?

Sorry, but I don't see why Canadians should get particularly concerned about this. A woman makes a personal decision to leave her husband and two-year-old child, goes back to Pakistan to pursue business opportunities, moves in with another man, and something happens to her. Not exactly a big surprise. Unless there's some evidence that the government of Pakistan mistreated her, I don't see what the role of the government of Canada should be.

Everyone knows Pakistan is a dangerous place. I have a friend from Pakistan who says it's become so dangerous that he won't be able to go back to visit his family again. Mrs. Sidiqqui must have had the same knowledge when she decided to move back there.

I guess that’s what they call compassionate conservatism. Canadian died overseas? Yawn. Go to Pakistan and you take your chances for it I guess. Then there’s the subtle implications with lines like “moves in with another man.” Guess she was asking for it, right Tom? No family values, so she had it coming.

Going to Pakistan is like going to Toronto . . . . I understand people are coming to Alberta today . . . claiming refugee status . . . saying they lived in TO and had to flee!!!Of course it is liberal logic that the PM would look after all 30 odd million Canadians from cradle to grave, even making sure their travels are safe. Its not safe in our big cities any more . . . . let alone foreign countries with dubious leaders like Pakistan, Cuba, Mexico and many others.

You need to go back to school since you clearly have forgotten your basic civics; it is the responsibility of the government to look after the interests of all its citizens, even those that are in other countries if they are mistreated by those societies. Now while it rarely gets much done by at least making the effort and putting a spotlight on it you make the cost of treating Canadian citizens poorly higher than if you ignored it and essentially provide tacit acceptance/indifference as Flanagan did.

This is the same sort of contemptuous attitude I remember from Canadian Conservatives while Arar was in Syria, crapping all over the Liberals for daring to be concerned about the welfare of that Canadian citizen because the Americans had declared him a terrorist. Yet in the end we found out Arar was an innocent man and that his rights were drastically ignored and that the only voices that called for him to stay unwanted and ignored came from the Conservative side of Parliament and the political spectrum. Speaks volumes this attitude does about CPCers and Canadian Conservatives these days, and nothing good.

that kind of callous indifference to a human life is incontrovertibly sociopathic. did you used to enjoy torturing small animals as a child mr. flanagan???

biff:why is calderon, the newly-elected conservative leader of mexico, dubious??? do you mean the fact the election was called illegitimate by many, or are you just a moron who knows absolutely nothing??? judging from your statement, i would conclude the latter.

Harpor's answer is: 'Sorry, the Bubbas of canada don't care, but they do care about.... NASCAR!'Yes, as noted, Pakistan is one of those 'allies' who shall come back to bite us, with their undemocratic leader who plays the taliban side to temper his own shaky hold on the top job.NOw that we've made China p/o'ed, we've really limited our ability to act as an influence on the whole economic and political dialogue that needs to be taking place.Harpor, dividing people all over the world...